PortugalAPPortugal enjoyed a fairly quiet year on the political front in 2007 as the Socialist Party’s dominance in the parliament allowed it to have a free hand in forming legislation. Prime Minister José Sócrates used this leverage in February to fulfill a campaign pledge on a national referendum on abortion. Portugal’s abortion laws, among the most restrictive in the EU, had been upheld at the polls in 1998. The 2007 vote was again marred by broad absenteeism; just 44% of the 8.8 million eligible voters turned out, but this time the pro-liberalization crowd won, with nearly a 60% margin. Despite the vote’s being technically invalid because a referendum required at least a 50% turnout, Sócrates asserted that the people had spoken, and he forced through the legislation. Pres. Aníbal Cavaco Silva later ratified the law, which allowed abortions up until the 10th week of pregnancy and provided terminations via the national health service. In this mainly Roman Catholic country, however, the issue remained controversial, with some doctors refusing to carry out abortions.

In July Portugal took over the six-month EU presidency and highlighted employment, education, and further integration of the EU as its main priorities. Portugal had a specific mandate to agree on a new text for the Reform Treaty intended to replace the EU constitution, which was rejected by voters in a handful of key countries in 2006. The renamed Treaty of Lisbon was signed at the summit of EU leaders in December. Portugal also organized an EU-Africa summit in Lisbon in mid-December.

Portugal saw modest economic growth, and efforts were continued to rein in spending and reduce the swollen budget deficit. GDP was growing at a 1.8% rate by the third quarter, held back a bit by rising interest rates and market turmoil in the U.S. and in some other EU countries. Inflation was relatively cool at 2.5%, though unemployment had crept up to a multiyear high of about 8%. The government continued with its privatization process, selling off a stake in electricity grid operator REN at a highly popular initial public offering and sketching out plans to sell stakes in electricity company Energias de Portugal and natural gas company Gas de Portugal. Sócrates’ administration also focused on alternative- and renewable-energy projects, with the aim to put Portugal at the forefront of the EU in reducing carbon-dioxide emissions. In March the world’s largest photovoltaic generating site, with a capacity of some 11 MW, opened near Serpa in the sunny Alentejo region. Plans were afoot to build more solar facilities, expand the country’s wind farms, and launch a prototype wave-power facility off the Atlantic coast. Meanwhile, the two big takeover bids that had marked 2006 faded away in 2007, with Portugal Telecom fending off a hostile approach from the much-smaller SonaeCom, while Millennium BCP, the country’s largest private financial services company, failed to acquire Banco BPI.

The major international event of the year concerned Madeleine McCann, a British child who disappeared from her room at a luxury resort in the Algarve region on May 3, just days before her fourth birthday. Initial reports indicated that she had been kidnapped, possibly by a pedophile ring, and an international alert went out to find her. Despite a high-profile media campaign and numerous false leads, there was no sign of the toddler, and the Portuguese police started investigating the possibility that Madeleine’s parents had been involved in the girl’s disappearance. The McCanns were formally named as suspects under the Portuguese legal system, even though police were unable to provide hard evidence of any crime. Protesting their innocence—and against the background of a steadily increasing spat between the Portuguese media and the British tabloid newspapers—the McCanns returned to the U.K. with their other two children, vowing to continue to search for their daughter. The deputy national director of police was put in charge of the investigation in October, but at year’s end the case was still unsolved.

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